CatholicTheology.info

Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:

• Penance (Continued)
• Extreme Unction
• Order (Holy Orders)
• Matrimony
• The General Resurrection
  • 69. The Place of Departed Souls
  • 70. Quality of a Separated Soul
  • 71. Suffrages for the Dead
  • 72. Prayers to the Saints
  • 73. Signs Preceding General Resurrection and Judgement
  • 74. The Fire of Judgment Day
  • 75. The Resurrection of the Body
  • 76. The Cause of the Resurrection of the Body
  • 77. Time and Manner of the Resurrection of the Body
  • 78. The Starting Point of the Bodily Resurrection
  • 79. The Risen Body
  • 80. The Integrity of the Risen Body
  • 81. The Quality of Those Risen from the Dead
  • 82. The Impassibility of Risen Bodies
  • 83. The Subtlety of Risen Bodies
  • 84. The Agility of Risen Bodies
  • 85. The Clarity of Risen Bodies
  • 86. The Risen Bodies of the Damned
• The Last Things
• Appendix I (The Innocents in Limbo)
• Appendix II (Two Notes on Purgatory)

75. The Resurrection of the Body

1. The body will rise again. Says scripture (Job 19:25,26): "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day Ishall rise out of the earth, and I shall be clothed again with myskin, and in my flesh I shall see my God." Since man is onesubstance composed of soul and body, the ultimate state of man mustinvolve the body as well as the soul. Hence, the body will riseagain.

2. This, therefore, is true of all men without exception;for all are of the same species, that is, the samecomplete essential kind. No human soul will remain foreverseparated from its own body.

3. The resurrection of the body is natural in thesense that it is natural for the soul to have its body. But thereis no power resident in soul or body to bring them together oncethey have been separated by death. Hence, the agency which actuallyjoins souls with their respective bodies is whollysupernatural.

"What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. "
Thomas á Kempis

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"A single act of uniformity with the divine will suffices to make a saint."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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"The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God's will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of God."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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